SYNOPSIS
conky [options]
DESCRIPTION
Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on the torsmo code.
Since it's original conception, Conky has changed a fair bit from it's
predecessor. Conky can display just about anything, either on your
root desktop or in it's own window. Conky has many built-in objects,
as well as the ability to execute programs and scripts, then display
the output from stdout.
We are always looking for help, and anyone interested in becoming a de-
veloper is welcome. Please use the facilities at SourceForge to make
bug reports, feature requests, and submit patches.
Thanks for your interest in Conky.
COMPILING
For users compiling from source, make sure you have the X development
libraries installed. This should be a package along the lines of
"libx11-dev or xorg-x11-dev".
Gentoo users -- Conky is in Gentoo's Portage... simply use "emerge app-
admin/conky" for installation. There is also usually an up-to-date
ebuild within Conky's package or in Svn.
Debian,etc. users -- Conky will be in Debian's repositories soon (by
mid-September, hopefully), and then Ubuntu shortly thereafter. Until
then, "dpkg -i" the .deb package to install.
Example to compile and run Conky with all optional components (note
that some configure options may differ for your system):
sh autogen.sh # Only required if building from Svn
./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --in-
fodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --local-
statedir=/var/lib --disable-own-window --enable-audacious[=yes|no|lega-
cy] --enable-bmpx --disable-hddtemp --disable-mpd --enable-xmms2 --dis-
able-portmon --disable-network --enable-debug --disable-x11 --dis-
able-double-buffer --disable-xdamage --disable-xft
make
make install # Optional
src/conky
Conky probably doesn't compile with compilers other than gcc and icc.
It doesn't compile with C89 compiler and not even with pure C99. It
uses a few things that might not exist: strdup(), strcasecmp(), strn-
If you do use them, please do not complain about memory or CPU usage,
unless you think something's seriously wrong (mem leak, etc.).
An easy way to force Conky to reload your ~/.conkyrc: "killall -SIGUSR1
conky". Saves you the trouble of having to kill and then restart.
IMPORTANT: For previous Conky users, Conky 1.3 no longer supports the
metar stuff. mdsplib was causing way too many problems. Hopefully
there'll be a better solution in Conky 2.x...
OPTIONS
Command line options override configurations defined in configuration
file.
-v | -V
Prints version and exits
-a ALIGNMENT
Text alignment on screen, {top,bottom}_{left,right} or none
-b Use double buffering (eliminates "flicker")
-c FILE
Config file to load instead of $HOME/.conkyrc
-d Daemonize Conky, aka fork to background
-f FONT
Font to use
-h Prints command line help and exits
-o Create own window to draw
-t TEXT
Text to render, remember single quotes, like -t ' $uptime '
-u SECONDS
Update interval
-w WIN_ID
Window id to draw
conkyrc.sample.gz" to get conkyrc.sample).
You might want to copy it to $HOME/.conkyrc and then start modifying
it. Other configs can be found at http://conky.sf.net
alignment
Aligned position on screen, may be top_left, top_right, bot-
tom_left, bottom_right, or none
background
Boolean value, if true, Conky will be forked to background when
started
border_margin
Border margin in pixels
border_width
Border width in pixels
color0 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color1 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color2 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color3 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color4 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color5 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color6 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color7 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color8 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
color9 A color variable for use inside TEXT segments
Default shading color and border's shading color
double_buffer
Use the Xdbe extension? (eliminates flicker) It is highly recom-
mended to use own window with this one so double buffer won't be
so big.
draw_borders
Draw borders around text?
draw_graph_borders
Draw borders around graphs?
draw_outline
Draw outlines?
draw_shades
Draw shades?
font Font name in X, xfontsel can be used to get a nice font
gap_x Gap, in pixels, between right or left border of screen, same as
passing -x at command line, e.g. gap_x 10
gap_y Gap, in pixels, between top or bottom border of screen, same as
passing -y at command line, e.g. gap_y 10.
imap Default global IMAP server. Arguments are: "host user pass [-i
interval] [-f folder] [-p port] [-e command]". Default port is
143, default folder is 'INBOX', default interval is 5 minutes.
If the password is supplied as '*', you will be prompted to en-
ter the password when Conky starts.
mail_spool
Mail spool for mail checking
max_port_monitor_connections
Allow each port monitor to track at most this many connections
(if 0 or not set, default is 256)
maximum_width pixels
Maximum width of window
minimum_size width (height)
Minimum size of window
mpd_host
Host of MPD server
mpd_port
Port of MPD server
mpd_password
MPD server password
music_player_interval
Music player thread update interval (defaults to Conky's update
interval)
net_avg_samples
The number of samples to average for net data
no_buffers
Substract (file system) buffers from used memory?
override_utf8_locale
Force UTF8? requires XFT
own_window
Boolean, create own window to draw?
own_window_class
Manually set the WM_CLASS name. Defaults to "Conky".
own_window_colour colour
If own_window_transparent no, set a specified background colour
(defaults to black). Takes either a hex value (#ffffff) or a
valid RGB name (see /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt)
own_window_hints undecorated,below,above,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
own_window_type
if own_window is yes, you may specify type normal, desktop or
override (default: normal). Desktop windows are special windows
that have no window decorations; are always visible on your
desktop; do not appear in your pager or taskbar; and are sticky
across all workspaces. Override windows are not under the con-
trol of the window manager. Hints are ignored. This type of win-
dow can be useful for certain situations.
out_to_console
Print text to stdout.
pad_percents
Pad percentages to this many decimals (0 = no padding)
pop3 Default global POP3 server. Arguments are: "host user pass [-i
interval] [-p port] [-e command]". Default port is 110, default
interval is 5 minutes. If the password is supplied as '*', you
will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
stippled_borders
Border stippling (dashing) in pixels
total_run_times
Total number of times for Conky to update before quitting. Zero
makes Conky run forever
update_interval
Update interval in seconds
uppercase
Boolean value, if true, text is rendered in upper case
use_spacer
Adds spaces after certain objects to stop them from moving other
things around. Note that this only helps if you are using a mono
font, such as Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.
use_xft
Use Xft (anti-aliased font and stuff)
Color can be also in #rrggbb format (hex). Note that when displaying
bytes, power is 1024 and not 1000 so 1M really means 1024*1024 bytes
and not 1000*1000.
addr interface
IP address for an interface
acpiacadapter
ACPI ac adapter state.
acpifan
ACPI fan state
acpitemp
ACPI temperature in C.
acpitempf
ACPI temperature in F.
adt746xcpu
CPU temperature from therm_adt746x
adt746xfan
Fan speed from therm_adt746x
alignr (num)
Right-justify text, with space of N
alignc (num)
Align text to centre
apm_adapter
Display APM AC adapter status (FreeBSD only)
apm_battery_life
Display APM battery life in percent (FreeBSD only)
apm_battery_time
Display remaining APM battery life in hh:mm:ss or "unknown" if
AC adapterstatus is on-line or charging (FreeBSD only)
Full path and filename of current tune
audacious_frequency
Sampling frequency of current tune
audacious_length
Total length of current tune as MM:SS
audacious_length_seconds
Total length of current tune in seconds
audacious_playlist_position
Playlist position of current tune
audacious_playlist_length
Number of tunes in playlist
audacious_position
Position of current tune (MM:SS)
audacious_position_seconds
Position of current tune in seconds
audacious_status
Player status (Playing/Paused/Stopped/Not running)
audacious_title (max length)
Title of current tune with optional maximum length specifier
battery (num)
Battery status and remaining percentage capacity of ACPI or APM
battery. ACPI battery number can be given as argument (default
is BAT0).
battery_bar (height),(width) (num)
Battery percentage remaining of ACPI battery in a bar. ACPI bat-
tery number can be given as argument (default is BAT0).
battery_percent (num)
Battery percentage remaining for ACPI battery. ACPI battery num-
bmpx_title
Title of the current BMPx track
bmpx_track
Track number of the current BMPx track
bmpx_bitrate
Bitrate of the current BMPx track
bmpx_uri
URI of the current BMPx track
buffers
Amount of memory buffered
cached Amount of memory cached
color (color)
Change drawing color to color
color0 Change drawing color to color0 configuration option
color1 Change drawing color to color1 configuration option
color2 Change drawing color to color2 configuration option
color3 Change drawing color to color3 configuration option
color4 Change drawing color to color4 configuration option
color5 Change drawing color to color5 configuration option
color6 Change drawing color to color6 configuration option
color7 Change drawing color to color7 configuration option
Bar that shows CPU usage, height is bar's height in pixels. See
$cpu for more info on SMP.
cpugraph (cpu number) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient
colour 2)
CPU usage graph, with optional colours in hex, minus the #. See
$cpu for more info on SMP.
diskio Displays current disk IO.
diskiograph (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2)
(scale)
Disk IO graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is
non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.
diskio_read
Displays current disk IO for reads.
diskiograph_read (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour
2) (scale)
Disk IO graph for reads, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.
diskio_write
Displays current disk IO for writes.
diskiograph_write (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour
2) (scale)
Disk IO graph for writes, colours defined in hex, minus the #.
If scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.
downspeed net
Download speed in kilobytes
downspeedf net
Download speed in kilobytes with one decimal
downspeedgraph net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient
colour 2) (scale)
Download speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.
exec command
Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. warn-
ing: this takes a lot more resources than other variables. I'd
recommend coding wanted behaviour in C and posting a patch.
execbar command
Same as exec, except if the first value return is a value be-
tween 0-100, it will use that number for a bar. The size for the
bar is currently fixed, but that may change in the future.
execgraph command
Same as execbar, but graphs values.
execi interval command
Same as exec but with specific interval. Interval can't be less
than update_interval in configuration. See also $texeci
execibar interval command
Same as execbar, except with an interval
execigraph interval command
Same as execigraph, but takes an interval arg graphs values
font (font)
Specify a different font. This new font will apply to the cur-
rent line and everything following. You can use a $font with no
arguments to change back to the default font (much like with
$color)
freq (n)
Returns CPU #n's frequency in MHz. CPUs are counted from 1. If
omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
freq_g (n)
Returns CPU #n's frequency in GHz. CPUs are counted from 1. If
omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
freq_dyn
Returns CPU frequency in MHz, but is calculated by counting to
clock cycles to complete an instruction. Only available for
x86/amd64.
Free space on a file system available for users.
fs_free_perc (fs)
Free percentage of space on a file system available for users.
fs_size (fs)
File system size
fs_used (fs)
File system used space
goto x The next element will be printed at position 'x'.
hddtemp dev, (host,(port))
Displays temperature of a selected hard disk drive as reported
by the hddtemp daemon running on host:port. Default host is
127.0.0.1, default port is 7634.
head logfile lines (interval)
Displays first N lines of supplied text text file. If interval
is not supplied, Conky assumes 2x Conky's interval. Max of 30
lines can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
hr (height)
Horizontal line, height is the height in pixels
hwmon (dev) type n
Hwmon sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be omit-
ted if you have only one hwmon device. Parameter type is either
'in' or 'vol' meaning voltage; 'fan' meaning fan; 'temp' (Cel-
sius) or 'tempf' (Fahrenheit) meaning temperature. Parameter n
is number of the sensor. See /sys/class/hwmon/ on your local
computer.
iconv_start codeset_from codeset_to
Convert text from one codeset to another using GNU iconv. Needs
to be stopped with iconv_stop.
iconv_stop
Stop iconv codeset conversion.
i8k_bios
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the bios version as listed in /proc/i8k.
i8k_buttons_status
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the volume buttons status as listed in /proc/i8k.
i8k_cpu_temp
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the cpu temperature in Celsius, as reported by /proc/i8k.
i8k_cpu_tempf
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the cpu temperature in Fahrenheit, as reported by /proc/i8k.
i8k_left_fan_rpm
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the left fan's rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
in reverse order.
i8k_left_fan_status
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the left fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to human-
readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in re-
verse order.
i8k_right_fan_rpm
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the right fan's rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
in reverse order.
i8k_right_fan_status
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
the right fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to hu-
man-readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in
reverse order.
i8k_serial
If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
your laptop serial number as listed in /proc/i8k.
GPU.
ibm_volume
If running the IBM ACPI, displays the "master" volume, con-
trolled by the volume keys (0-14).
ibm_brightness
If running the IBM ACPI, displays the brigtness of the laptops's
LCD (0-7).
if_empty (var)
if conky variable VAR is empty, display everything between
$if_empty and the matching $endif
if_running (process)
if PROCESS is running, display everything $if_running and the
matching $endif
if_existing file (string)
if FILE exists, display everything between if_existing and the
matching $endif. The optional second paramater checks for FILE
containing the specified string and prints everything between
$if_existing and the matching $endif.
if_mounted (mountpoint)
if MOUNTPOINT is mounted, display everything between $if_mounted
and the matching $endif
imap_messages (args)
Displays the number of messages in your global IMAP inbox by de-
fault. You can define individual IMAP inboxes seperately by
passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
[-i interval] [-p port] [-e command]". Default port is 143, de-
fault interval is 5 minutes. If the password is supplied as '*',
you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
imap_unseen (args)
Displays the number of unseen messages in your global IMAP inbox
by default. You can define individual IMAP inboxes seperately by
passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
[-i interval] [-p port] [-e command]". Default port is 143, de-
fault interval is 5 minutes. If the password is supplied as '*',
you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
Mail count in the specified mailbox or your mail spool if not.
Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported. You can use
a program like fetchmail to get mails from some server using
your favourite protocol. See also new_mails.
mboxscan (-n number of messages to print) (-fw from width) (-sw subject
width) mbox
Print a summary of recent messages in an mbox format mailbox.
mbox parameter is the filename of the mailbox (can be encapsu-
lated using '"', ie. ${mboxscan -n 10 "/home/brenden/some box"}
mem Amount of memory in use
membar (height),(width)
Bar that shows amount of memory in use
memmax Total amount of memory
memperc
Percentage of memory in use
mpd_artist
Artist in current MPD song must be enabled at compile
mpd_album
Album in current MPD song
mpd_bar (height),(width)
Bar of mpd's progress
mpd_bitrate
Bitrate of current song
mpd_status
Playing, stopped, et cetera.
mpd_title (max length)
Title of current MPD song
mpd_vol
mpd_random
Random status (On/Off)
mpd_repeat
Repeat status (On/Off)
mpd_track
Prints the MPD track field
mpd_name
Prints the MPD name field
mpd_file
Prints the file name of the current MPD song
mpd_smart
Prints the song name in either the form "artist - title" or file
name, depending on whats available
new_mails (mailbox) (interval)
Unread mail count in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not.
Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported.
nodename
Hostname
outlinecolor (color)
Change outline color
pb_battery item
If running on Apple powerbook/ibook, display information on bat-
tery status. The item parameter specifies, what information to
display. Exactly one item must be specified. Valid items are:
status: Display if battery is fully charged, charging, discharg-
ing or absent (running on AC)
percent: Display charge of battery in percent, if charging or
discharging. Nothing will be displayed, if battery is fully
charged or absent.
time: Display the time remaining until the battery will be fully
charged or discharged at current rate. Nothing is displayed, if
battery is absent or if it's present but fully charged and not
by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes seperately by
passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
[-i interval] [-p port] [-e command]". Default port is 110, de-
fault interval is 5 minutes. If the password is supplied as '*',
you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
pop3_used (args)
Displays the amount of space (in MiB, 2^20) used in your global
POP3 inbox by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes
seperately by passing arguments to this object. Arguments are:
"host user pass [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command]". Default
port is 110, default interval is 5 minutes. If the password is
supplied as '*', you will be prompted to enter the password when
Conky starts.
pre_exec shell command
Executes a shell command one time before conky displays anything
and puts output as text.
processes
Total processes (sleeping and running)
running_processes
Running processes (not sleeping), requires Linux 2.6
shadecolor (color)
Change shading color
stippled_hr (space)
Stippled (dashed) horizontal line
swapbar (height),(width)
Bar that shows amount of swap in use
swap Amount of swap in use
swapmax
Total amount of swap
swapperc
Percentage of swap in use
lip - local ip address
lhost - local host name
lport - local port number
lservice - local service name from /etc/services
The connection index provides you with access to each connection
in the port monitor. The monitor will return information for in-
dex values from 0 to n-1 connections. Values higher than n-1 are
simply ignored. For the "count" item, the connection index must
be omitted. It is required for all other items.
Examples:
${tcp_portmon 6881 6999 count} - displays the number of connec-
tions in the bittorrent port range
${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 0} - displays the remote host ip of the
first sshd connection
${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 9} - displays the remote host ip of the
tenth sshd connection
${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rhost 0} - displays the remote host name of
the first connection on a privileged port
${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rport 4} - displays the remote host port of
the fifth connection on a privileged port
${tcp_portmon 1 65535 lservice 14} - displays the local service
name of the fifteenth connection in the range of all ports
Note that port monitor variables which share the same port range
actually refer to the same monitor, so many references to a sin-
gle port range for different items and different indexes all use
the same monitor internally. In other words, the program avoids
creating redundant monitors.
texeci interval command
Runs a command at an interval inside a thread and displays the
output. Same as $execi, except the command is run inside a
thread. Use this if you have a slow script to keep Conky updat-
ing. You should make the interval slightly longer then the time
it takes your script to execute. For example, if you have a
script that take 5 seconds to execute, you should make the in-
terval at least 6 seconds. See also $execi.
offset (pixels)
Move text over by N pixels. See also $voffset.
rss url delay_in_minutes action item_num
Download and parse RSS feeds. Action may be one of the follow-
ing: feed_title, item_title (with num par), item_desc (with num
par) and item_titles.
tab (width, (start))
utime (format)
Display time in UTC (universal coordinate time).
tztime (timezone) (format)
Local time for specified timezone, see man strftime to get more
information about format. The timezone argument is specified in
similar fashion as TZ environment variable. For hints, look in
/usr/share/zoneinfo. e.g. US/Pacific, Europe/Zurich, etc.
totaldown net
Total download, overflows at 4 GB on Linux with 32-bit arch and
there doesn't seem to be a way to know how many times it has al-
ready done that before conky has started.
top type, num
This takes arguments in the form:top (name) (number) Basically,
processes are ranked from highest to lowest in terms of cpu us-
age, which is what (num) represents. The types are: "name",
"pid", "cpu", and "mem". There can be a max of 10 processes
listed.
top_mem type, num
Same as top, except sorted by mem usage instead of cpu
totalup net
Total upload, this one too, may overflow
updates Number of updates
for debugging
upspeed net
Upload speed in kilobytes
upspeedf net
Upload speed in kilobytes with one decimal
upspeedgraph net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour
2) (scale)
Upload speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph.
uptime Uptime
voltage_v (n)
Returns CPU #n's voltage in V. CPUs are counted from 1. If omit-
ted, the parameter defaults to 1.
wireless_essid net
Wireless access point ESSID (Linux only)
wireless_mode net
Wireless mode (Managed/Ad-Hoc/Master) (Linux only)
wireless_bitrate net
Wireless bitrate (ie 11 Mb/s) (Linux only)
wireless_ap net
Wireless access point MAC address (Linux only)
wireless_link_qual net
Wireless link quality (Linux only)
wireless_link_qual_max net
Wireless link quality maximum value (Linux only)
wireless_link_qual_perc net
Wireless link quality in percents (Linux only)
wireless_link_bar (height), (width) net
Wireless link quality bar (Linux only)
xmms2_artist
Artist in current XMMS2 song
xmms2_album
Album in current XMMS2 song
xmms2_title
Title in current XMMS2 song
xmms2_genre
xmms2_url
Full path to current song
xmms2_tracknr
Track number in current XMMS2 song
xmms2_bitrate
Bitrate of current song
xmms2_id
XMMS2 id of current song
xmms2_duration
Duration of current song
xmms2_elapsed
Song's elapsed time
xmms2_size
Size of current song
xmms2_percent
Percent of song's progress
xmms2_status
XMMS2 status (Playing, Paused, Stopped, or Disconnected)
xmms2_bar (height),(width)
Bar of XMMS2's progress
xmms2_smart
Prints the song name in either the form "artist - title" or file
name, depending on whats available
EXAMPLES
conky -t '${time %D %H:%M}' -o -u 30
Start Conky in its own window with date and clock as text and 30
sec update interval.
conky -a top_left -x 5 -y 500 -d
SEE ALSO
<http://conky.sourceforge.net>
<http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/conky>
#conky on irc.freenode.net
AUTHORS
The Conky dev team. What's up now!
2007-08-08 conky(1)
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